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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8137138" data-attributes="member: 42582">If I, playing a character, conjecture "Isn't Evard's tower around here somewhere" or if I, playing a character, say "I'm looking out for Rufus as we enter the borders of Auxol", and nothing can flow from that because the GM has unilaterally decided that Rufus is not about or that there is no such tower, then on this occasion my actions don't matter.Hence by your own account I, as a player, don't have agency on this occasion.And generalising the point: the only actions that will matter, on an approach of unilateral GM control, will be actions directed towards elements that the GM has introduced. Just like H3 Pyramid of Shadows that I quoted upthread.That is low-player-agency RPGing.EDIT:H3 Pyramid of Shadows is a railroad.If the GM sets things up so the players can (say) choose between H3 or H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth, now maybe we have a choice between two railroads.But ultimately if (i) the goal of play is to experience a story in a "living, breathing world" and (ii) we are not just going to have the GM decide the key elements of it, the players need to be able to have input.There are different ways this can be done: taking suggestions (as Gygax mentions in relation to strongholds; as is a big part of PbtA-type games; as 4e D&D allows for in player-defined quests), or action resolution frameworks (which BW and Marvel Heroic RP/Cortex+ Heroic emphasise), or sheer player stipulation (off the top of my head I can't think of a RPG that allows this for key elements of the shared fiction - OGL Conan allows it for peripheral elements).Without it - if the GM just unilaterally decides whether or not there are bluffs overlooking rivers, or wizard's towers, or family members to be engaged with - then play becomes an exploration of the content of the GM's mind.</blockquote>

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